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The DFN Weekly

Uncle! Uncle!

By
Wingnut
Pornn Palace

There comes a time when we as webmasters simply bite off more then we can chew. We are all guilty of it; we see this project and that option and then the next one and so on. Before you know it your dance card is full! Next thing you know is you're missing dates or forgetting about commitments, which is never good for business.

This is an especially dangerous time for newbies, as the amount of information they are trying to comprehend is at the very least overwhelming. Lets face the only things a new webmaster should be worrying about is learning the basics of hand coding HTML, effective sales techniques, traffic generation and bandwidth management. Those alone are more then enough to keep even the most eager newcomer busy for some time.

There are so many other distractions available to whisk you away from the task at hand that it is easy to get caught up in the hoopla and not realize you've lost focus. The infamous "stats watching bug", one which has always plagued my own focus, is probably one of the worst things a newbie (or oldbie) can do.

You can't forget the "me too bug" which pulls in people quickly for they fear being left behind on projects. One of the more dangerous areas a newbie can fall into and will bring the Uncle Uncle cry in a heartbeat. The danger here is the focus on the important items is lost while trying to keep up with your peers. Go at your own pace until comfortable with your knowledge before moving on, people learn at different paces and in different methods. This is not a race … it's a business.

It's near the first of the month and the perfect time to take a look and see if you should be calling Uncle or not! Grab a calendar and gather all the "stuff" you are "going to do next" and map them out on the calendar. Be realistic about the timeline for your various projects and lay them out. If you are beyond Halloween and still have a list of projects … stop and cry Uncle.

So take the time and spit out all that stuff you are trying to chew and swallow as a webmaster and arrange it on a timeline. You might not get everything done exactly as planned but you will surprised at how much more you will get done.

A wise person once told me that "a bad plan is better then no plan". The next plan you make will be that much better after what you learn from the first one. You will start to become a better estimator of how long it takes you to get through tasks. It's not that much effort to organize yourself just this much and I promise you can still keep your office as messy as you want. You won't turn into the super anal neat-freak you think you will.

Uncle Wingnut